Water polo: US, Netherlands to contest final

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-20 08:34

The United States battled its way into the final of the Olympic women's water polo yesterday with a 9-8 victory over archrival Australia.

Brenda Villa scored a stunning goal in the last minute to set up a clash against the Netherlands, which defeated Hungary 8-7 in the other semi-final.

The Australians came back from 8-5 down at the end of the third quarter to level at 8-all but then came Villa's winning goal.

The US, however, will be without key player Lauren Wenger for the final. She broke a bone in her right hand during the semifinals.

The other semi-final was equally close.

Hungary took an early 2-0 lead against the Netherlands, which had beaten Olympic champion Italy on Sunday in a penalty shoot-out.

But Lefke van Belkum and Marieke van den Ham scored three goals apiece and powered the Dutch ahead. They kept the advantage through a stamina-sapping last quarter.

In the first match of the day, China took fifth spot by beating defending Olympic champion Italy 10-7.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/20/2008 page14)